Delivery
by au revoir pets
Summary: He promised he'd come back.


Written for Round 1 of the Fairy Tail Writing Challenge

Genre: Tragedy/Hurt/Comfort

Word Count: 1008

Prompt: _I love you, stupid._

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><p><strong>Delivery<strong>

"_I have something to tell you_," _she whispered softly into his ear as they stood by the archway which would have him leaving Magnolia._

"_Tell me then."_

_She shook her head, and instead decided to plant a kiss on his cheek._

"_I'll tell you when you get back. As…" she gulped and managed to give him a watery smile, "as an incentive for you to come back."_

_He grinned, understanding the inner turmoil she was going through._

"_I'll be back," he said firmly, "I promise."_

x-x-x

She waited patiently for three years.

She stopped taking missions and got a part time job in a café downtown. When her friends questioned her antics, she told them that she didn't want to be away when he got back. She had something very important to tell him after all.

Finding Igneel was important to him. Very important, and she understood, he was willing to risk his life for him. That's why she couldn't bring herself to stop him from going. No matter how dangerous it would be, no matter how many times he'd have to put his life in danger to meet his father again, she just couldn't stop him. She wasn't that selfish.

x-x-x

The first year was the hardest year. The Guild just simply wasn't the same without him running around picking fights with Gray, cowering from Erza, or just causing general havoc. So she stopped visiting. Her home just wasn't the same without him bursting in at unsociable hours demanding that they go on another mission together. Happy came around pretty often, but the blue haired flying feline just wasn't the same as his excitable surrogate brother.

She cried a lot during the first year. She didn't think that she would miss him this much, but she did. His presence was like a anchor for her, and she felt like she would sink and drown without him by her side soon again.

The second year was slightly easier. She became used to not hearing his loud voice, or clumsy footsteps. It was still hard though. He didn't make any contact with her, and she supposed that she wasn't surprised. He was on a dangerous quest after all, not a holiday. But still…she wondered if he ever thought of her. If he ever thought of any of the friends he had waiting back home.

She still cried for him that year, but not as frequent and not as hard.

The third year was the easiest. She went on a few dates, nothing came of any of them so she decided that he would mind, and actually began to enjoy life once again. She began to visit the Guild more often, and found herself falling into a familiar routine of going to work during the day and hanging out with her friends till late into the night. It still wasn't quite the same. Gray was noticeably less boisterous. Happy didn't smile as much. Even Erza seemed slightly less lacklustre than usual, but it was good enough for her.

x-x-x

He came back two months into the fourth year.

She had been sitting at home, curled up on her armchair reading an old book when Happy had fluttered through her window frantically telling her that she needed to get down to the entrance to the town as soon as possible. Without question, she shoved on a pair of boots and exited her apartment block. Her heart was thumping madly, as if it could sense that he was near by.

There was a crowd forming by the entrance to their town when she arrived there. She could see Levy, Gajeel, Mirajane and several others of her friends near the front so she pushed through the townspeople and made her way there.

What she saw made her skin crawl.

Two men dressed up in the garments of the Fiore National Army stood next to a box.

"Lucy…" Levy mumbled as she began to take shaky steps towards the box.

She shook her head as she neared the box. It was just a delivery, an important delivery. That was all. No need for her to get worried over a simple delivery.

"Lucy Heartphillia?" one of the men asked as she approached them.

She nodded, not trusting her voice.

_Just a delivery, just a very important delivery_, she told herself to try and still her jumping nerves.

They both bowed their heads respectfully.

"I am sorry to have to inform you of this," the man spoke solemnly.

She shook her head, not bothering to still the barrage of tears that had begun to fall as soon as he begun speaking.

"I am truly sorry, ma'am."

"No…no," she gasped quietly, her legs moving on autopilot, taking her towards the box.

"There was…there was nothing we could do…"

"Shut up, shut _up_!" she whimpered, collapsing onto her knees next to the box. Not caring about her friends or townspeople standing behind her, she slowly began to push the box open.

"There was an attack….several Dark Guilds at once…we sent back up for him…"

Her breath hitched as she made out a tuft of light pink hair.

"If it's any consolation," the man continued nervously, "he died fighting valiantly."

Lucy Heartphillia's scream of anguish could be heard throughout the town as she finally pushed the box open and saw him.

x-x-x

_She sighed loudly as she watched him plod down the winding road._

_She was quite sure that this was possibly the hardest thing she'd ever had to do, but she knew she couldn't tell him now. If she told him now, she was sure there was no way he'd leave, and she couldn't do that to him. She just couldn't._

"_Come back to me Natsu," she whispered into the night sky, "because…I love you."_

_Not even a mile down the road, Natsu's face contorted into a soft grin. She always underestimated his keen sense of hearing. Taking a deep breath he whirled around and yelled, "I love you too, stupid! And I promise to come back."_

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><p><strong>AN:** Hi, I hope this is sad, it's my first time trying something sad so yeah, reviews please!


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